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At day’s begin, FE-2 Skripochka conducted the regular daily early-morning check of the aerosol filters at the Russian Elektron O2 generator which Maxim Suraev had installed on 10/19/09 in gaps between the BZh Liquid Unit and the oxygen outlet pipe (filter FA-K) plus hydrogen outlet pipe (filter FA-V). [Oleg will again inspect the filters before bedtime tonight, currently a daily requirement per plan, with photographs to be taken if the filter packing is discolored.]

CDR Kelly continued his current week-long activity with the post-wakeup experiment SLEEP (Sleep-Wake Actigraphy & Light Exposure during Spaceflight), Scott’s 3rd, transferring data from their Actiwatches to the HRF-1 (Human Research Facility 1) laptop. [To monitor their sleep/wake patterns and light exposure during a SLEEP session, US crewmembers wear a special Actiwatch device which measures the light levels encountered by him/her as well as their patterns of sleep and activity throughout the Expedition, using the payload software for data logging and filling in questionnaire entries in the experiment’s laptop session file on the HRF-1 laptop. The log entries are done within 15 minutes of final awakening for seven consecutive days.]

Kelly, Skripochka & Kaleri completed the regular weekly three-hour task of thorough cleaning of their home, including COL (Columbus Orbital Laboratory) and Kibo JPM (JEM Pressurized Module). ["Uborka", usually done on Saturdays, includes removal of food waste products, cleaning of compartments with vacuum cleaner, damp cleaning of the SM (Service Module) dining table, other frequently touched surfaces and surfaces where trash is collected, as well as the sleep stations with a standard cleaning solution; also, fan screens and grilles are cleaned to avoid temperature rises. Special cleaning is also done every 90 days on the HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) bacteria filters in the Lab.]

As part of the uborka house cleaning, Alex & Oleg conducted regular maintenance inspection & cleaning of fan screens in the FGB (TsV2) plus the BMP Harmful Contaminants Removal System grille and Group E fan grilles (VPkhO, FS5, FS6, VP) in the SM (Service Module).

In the new Soyuz TMA-01M/24S (#701) spacecraft, docked at the MRM2 “Poisk” at FGB nadir, Alex deactivated the GA gas analyzer in the SA/Descent Module which he had activated on 10/22 for a periodic atmosphere checkup.

Oleg meanwhile performed routine maintenance on the SM SRVK-2M system by replacing its BKO multifiltration unit with a spare, discarding the old unit and updating the IMS (Inventory Management System). (Last time done: 9/15). [BKO contains five purification columns to rid the condensate of dissolved mineral and organic impurities. It has a service lifetime of ~450 liters throughput. The water needs to be purified for proper electrolysis in the Elektron O2 generator.]

Kelly configured the WHC (Waste & Hygiene Compartment) for using the internal EDV-U container, and reported the flush counter.

Afterwards, Scott completed the regular bi-monthly reboots of the OCA Router & FS SSC (File Server Station Support Computer) laptops (the latter required to mitigate the problem of iPV and OSTPV not opening up procedures due to a memory leak in the “Tomcat” software). After a period of no less than 10 min later, the CDR also rebooted the two ISS network servers (SERVER1 & 2).

The crew worked out on today’s 2-hr physical exercise protocol on the TVIS treadmill with vibration isolation & stabilization (FE-1, FE-2), ARED advanced resistive exercise device (CDR, FE-2), T2/COLBERT advanced treadmill (CDR), and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (FE-1). [T2 snubber arm inspection is no longer needed after every T2 session but must be done after the last T2 session of the day.]

Correction: Flight Engineer Fyodor Yurchikhin returned to Star City on a Tupolev Tu-134 plane, now being used by the GCTC (Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center) instead of the TU-154 used earlier and reported here yesterday erroneously.

Weekly Science Update (Expedition Twenty-Five -- Week 9).

2D NANO Template (JAXA): No report.

3D SPACE: No report.

AgCam (Agricultural Camera): No report.

ALTCRISS (Alteino Long Term monitoring of Cosmic Rays on the ISS): Complete.

BCAT-4/5 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test 4/5): The attached figure (not reproduced here) shows the results of the preliminary analysis of sample 8 second run. It shows the growth of the phase separating regions against time in two areas of Sample 8. As seen previously in Samples 6 and 7, the domains grow linearly with time at the beginning of the run, but growth becomes arrested about 24 hours after the initialization of the run. This graph shows two sets of data, taken by performing the correlation function on two regions of sample 8, showing that there is some variation due to lighting conditions etc, but overall agreement between the two sets is reassuring. Once again, special thanks to Shannon Walker for making this last run of BCAT-5 sample 8 a complete success. “As this is the end of the last scheduled run of our BCAT-5 samples, we would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who has been involved. We appreciate the dedication and hard work of team members on the ISS, at NASA and at CSA that has been so crucial in making these experiments a success.”

CIR (Combustion Integrated Rack), MDCA/Flex: On 11/18, three test points were successfully performed with four counting towards the science matrix (one test point was skipped). The test points were performed with heptane fuel at a 1 atm chamber environment of 20% O2, 5% CO2, and 75% N2. None of the test points used the support fiber. • Test #1 - Droplet diameter of 3.5 - 4 mm. Good clean droplet. Good deployment with slow drift. The flame was luminous initially, grew, became dim blue and began to shrink. It burned for a relatively long time (~15 sec) before a disruption coincident with flame extinction. • Test #2 - Droplet diameter of 2.5 - 3 mm. Droplet and needles look clean. Good deployment and ignition. The total burn time was 8 - 10 sec. The flame was luminous yellow, then became dim blue with some visible soot between the flame and droplet. The flame decreased in size until a disruption coincident with flame extinction. • Test #3 - Droplet diameter of 4 mm. Attempted a larger droplet to observe radiative extinction. Droplet looked clean. Good deployment with slight drift. The flame was large and dim blue and burned for 7 - 8 sec. The flame oscillated 1-2 cycles before extinction (presumably radiative extinction). A vapor cloud formed ~15 - 18 sec after visible flame extinction. Could not see whether there was rapid vaporization after visible flame extinction. We were able to successfully observe radiative extinction and pre-extinction flame instabilities with these tests. Because Test #1 and Test #3 were relatively close in size and one burned to near completion and one radiatively extinguished (with a relatively long burn time), we should have a relatively good definition of the radiative extinction boundary for this ambient condition. We were unable to observe diffusive extinction (if it exists in this ambient/fuel combination) because of the disruption at the end of the test. .

DECLIC (Device for the Study of Critical Liquids & Crystallization, CNES/NASA): As planned, the Declic DSI-C sequence started on 11/22. The scientific objective of the DSI-C run is to measure the influence of the macroscopic curvature front solidification on the microstructure formation dynamics. During this week, we performed 2 solidifications at speeds of 2 and 1 micron / sec. We captured 7000 images during these solidifactions.

HAIR (JAXA): Hair sampling sessions for Walker and Wheelock were completed on 11/12.

HDTV System (JAXA): Was delivered by HTV1.

Holter ECG (JAXA): No report.

HQPC (JAXA): Was delivered by 34P.

HREP (HICO/Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean & RAIDS/Remote Atmospheric & Ionospheric Detection System/JAXA): HREP is operating nominally and 2103 images have been taken to date. The most recent HICO images taken include the coast of North Carolina, Monterey Bay in California, the Santa Barbara Channel, and the lower Chesapeake Bay.

RST/Reaction Self Test (Psychomotor Vigilance Self Test on the ISS): "Wheels, Shannon and Scott: thank you for your continued participation in Reaction Self Test! Scott, on 11/29 there is an activity to recover data from past increments. These data along with the data from you, Wheels and Shannon over the last month, will be downlinked on 11/29. We appreciate your help with this activity and look forward to receiving and reviewing your data!"